Fotoeins Fotografie

Since 2003, December 11 is International Mountain Day as designated by the United Nations General Assembly. Annually, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) observes the day:

… to create awareness about the importance of mountains to life, to highlight the opportunities and constraints in mountain development and to build alliances that will bring positive change to mountain peoples and environments around the world.

•   Mountains cover almost one-quarter (22 percent) of the Earth’s surface.
•   Up to 80 percent of the world’s freshwater supply comes from mountains.
•   One in eight people (13 percent) around the world lives in the mountains.
•   Mountain tourism accounts for almost 20 percent of the worldwide tourism industry.

The following ten provides a short glimpse to the mountain environments around the world and to the challenging conditions our ancestors would have faced and endured.

1.   Australia : Blue Mountains, from Katoomba, NSW

2.   Brazil : Serra do Ibitiraquire mountains, near Morretes, Paraná

At 1877 metres (6158 feet), Pico Paraná is the highest point in Paraná state and in southern Brazil (HL 20110710; see also Fotoeins Friday).

3.   Canada : Coast Mountain Range, near Vancouver, BC

The Squamish people had coastal villages in and around Howe Sound (HL 20140516; see also this postr).

4.   Chile : Lower Andes, in IV Región de Coquimbo

A sleepy “zorro” (desert fox), from Cerro Tololo Observatory (HL 20070623; see also Fotoeins Friday).

5.   Chile : Coastal Range (Cordillera de la Costa), from II Región de Antofagasta

6.   Germany : Zugspitze, from Bavaria (and Austria’s Tyrol)

7.   México – Picacho del Diablo, Parque San Pedro Martír, Baja California

Southeast from México’s Observatorio Astronómico Nacional to highest point on Baja California peninsula (HL 20051216; see also Fotoeins Friday post).

8.   New Zealand : Southern Alps, flyover near Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park

9.   South Africa : Table Mountain, in Cape Town

From the back of the Table to where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean meet (HL 20121013; see also Fotoeins Friday).

10.   USA : Kohala, on the Big Island of Hawai’i, HI

Cinder cones on extinct volcano Kohala (HL 20091208; see also Fotoeins Friday).

Photo by Amy Toensing for Getty Images. UN FAO International Mountain Day 2016 information material.

Except for the top and bottom images, I made the remaining photos (HL) between 2005 and 2014 with three Canon cameras: Powershot A510, EOS 450D, and EOS 6D. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotopress at fotoeins.com as http://wp.me/p1BIdT-99u.